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Two Named on Under Sixteen All Star Team
(August 31st) - St. Lucia lost badly to eventual champions St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the Second Caribbean Netball Association Under Sixteen Championships in Barbados. The St. Lucians ended the tournament on a winning note, blowing Guyana out Saturday evening to secure third place. St. Lucia's only two losses in the field of eight teams came at the hands of the hosts and the champions. Following the competition, the All-Tournament team was named, with two St. Lucians making the cut. Goal shoot Dedra Mathurin of the Leon Hess Secondary School had fantastic scoring output in Barbados. At the other end of the court, defender Sarah Alexander (Clendon Mason Memorial) was also selected to the All-Tournament team.
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Elijah Joseph Salvages a Point for W Connection
 CASTRIES (August 27) - Trinidadian teams W Connection and Joe Public met Friday evening at the Mindoo Philip Park in a Professional Football League encounter, as important in itself as the game was to the two clubs. Going into the game, W Connection were lying second in the League, behind leaders Defence Force. Joe Public were joint second, along with CL Financial Jabloteh.
W Connection had the fan support on the night, as three St. Lucian players got the nod to start the game. It was Joe Public making the early impression, though, Cyd Grey collecting a rebound off the wall from a free kick in the fourth minute to open the scoring. Grey's goal was the only mark on the scoresheet in the first half, although W Connection came close to scoring time and again.
One of the few blemishes on the first half was a sub-standard performance from St. Lucia's national captain Earl (Ball Hog) Jean (pictured above). The powerful 26 year old from La Clery recently sustained an injury to his hamstring, and both himself and coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier admitted after the game that there would be a question mark over Ball Hog for the PFL Cup final on Monday, August 30.
Earl is the second leading scorer in the PFL, but the lead is held by onetime Caribbean Footballer of the Year, Trinidad's Arnold Dwarika. The dreadlocked striker hit his league-leading 25th goal four minutes into the second stanza, with a sweet little header off a cross from the right wing. At that stage, the three points looked safe, and Joe Public started playing 11 men behind the ball. At the same time Connection began discovering the rhythm which had abandoned them in the first half. Chances were created, but no goals were forthcoming. Abdulai Conteh, usually a reliable scorer, lacked the touch on the night. Another St. Lucian, Jonathan (Borgia) McVane was sent in, and just minutes later, Sierra Leone defender Charlie Wright struck, pulling one back in the 65th minute. Connection had the momentum, and only the excellent play of Trinidad and Tobago international goalkeeper Michael McComie prevented them from pressing the advantage. The stage was set, though, for St. Lucian heroics. Elijah Joseph runs the Connection midfield, but he had only two previous League goals to his credit - 70 minutes in, the Gros Islet lad equalised with a header off a corner kick.
There was little more to say, though Dwarika missed what may have been a golden opportunity to steal full points. Having beaten the custodian, Dwarika misjudged a difficult angled shot - which, had it found the back of the net, would surely have sealed a victory for Joe Public. All in all, the game was subtly superior to the usual domestic fare, and both teams ought to be well pleased with a point apiece.
On Monday of this week, Connection lost 3-2 in the PFL Cup Final, conceding a golden goal to Jabloteh on top of a 90th minute equaliser. Going into the last minute of regulation, Jean and Valencius Joseph had their side 2-1 ahead when a defensive blunder sent the game to extra time. In the spare frame Jabloteh netted to take the PFL Cup. Connection meet Joe Public again in the President's Cup Final on the 17th.
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St. Lucian Girls Dominate at Regional Under-Sixteen Netball
(August 27) - St. Lucia won its third consecutive game on Wednesday night at the Second Caribbean Under-Sixteen Netball Championships in Barbados. Thanks to torrid shooting from Leon Hess Secondary goal shoot Dedra Mathurin, the Lucian lasses demolished the Cayman Islands 48-11 to stay on course for at least a third-place finish.
Dedra scored 44 goals from 54 attempts, with goal attack Shanelle Gaspard contributing 4 of 7. The two have benefitted from a quick and powerful centre court, which includes utility player Deselva Florton of the St. Jospeph's Convent and Entrepot Secondary's Yana Joseph.
Defenders Tomica Alcide of Castries Comprehensive, Shanette Saniese of Vieux Fort Secondary and Sarah Alexander from Clendon Mason Memorial have been spectacular so far in this tournament. All of St. Lucia's opponents have been held to fewer than thirty goals.
In the absence of defending champions Jamaica, St. Lucia trail only Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines atop the leaderboard. Barbados narrowly beat St. Lucia in the competition's opening game. After leading for three quarters, St. Lucia lost by three goals. Coach Donna-Lynn Joseph has turned her team around, and they've won three out of four games, preparing for a stretch run against the two top teams.
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Eighteen Women Named for OECS Volleyball
An eighteen-member St. Lucia national squad has been named to go into training for the Tenth Annual Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States' Women's Volleyball Tournament. The women begin training this week at the Vigie Multi-Purpose Sports Complex, under head coach Terry Verdant and assistant coach Meinrad (Moffy) Joseph.
St. Lucia will settle for nothing less than victory in this tournament. The women have lost just twice in nine years at OECS level; this year the squad includes six players who represented St. Lucia at the Caribbean Under 20 championships in Jamaica. This year's OECS competition begins in late September in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The full squad reads as follows:
Jetsetters:
Sabina GASTON
Cecilia LOUIS
Signa PRESIDENT
Deysha MARTIAL
Le Club Volleyball:
Rebecca FLERMIUS
Joana REYNOLDS
Gifta DUJON
Valeriana ST. HELENE
Lydia-Ann
Samantha MANN
Phoenix:
Chrissy LAURENT
C&W Ciceron Seagulls:
Marcia VITE
Cherry-Ann ANTOINE
Shana AUBREY
Lottie PHILIP
Anella MAXIUS
Donna-Lynn JOSEPH
Prisca SIMON
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Mon Repos' Mathurin Contributes to Windwards Win
(August 25) - Mon Repos allrounder Gairy Mathurin was a key player for the Windward islands Tuesday, as they won their opening match in the 1999 West Indies Under Fifteen Cricket tournament. Playing at the Uitvlugt ground in Georgetown Guyana, the Windwards squeezed by Barbados with an eleven run victory.
Batting first, the Windwards were all out in the thirty seventh over for a meagre 136 runs. Barbados' bowlers gifted the Windwards with all of 56 extras, including 31 wides. Liam Sebastian scored 31, the only player to get into double figures. Jamal Fore led the Barbados bowlers with figures of four for 30. The Barbadian boys needed less than three runs per over to win, but they never came to grips with the Windwards' bowling. The Windwards' two most experienced players, Vincentian spinner and captain Alston Bobb and St. Lucian spinner and vice-captain Mathurin, conceded a combined 18 runs from their twenty overs, taking four wickets.
At tea - with half the alloted overs already in the books - Barbados had scored only 51 runs, having lost three wickets. Bobb's and Mathurin's left arm spin helped hold down Barbados captain Derek Bishop and top scorer Kirk Gibson, who tried to accelerate the scoring after the interval. Barbados were eventually dismissed in the forty sixth over for 125 runs.
The Windwards ended the 1998 West Indies Under Fifteen Tournament - held in Jamaica under the auspices of Carib Cement - in second place. Mathurin is one of five St. Lucians in the 1999 squad, which is managed by another St. Lucian, Brian Charles. Mathurin also played for St. Lucia in the Windward Islands Under Nineteen competition earlier this year.
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Dominic Johnson Jumps Well, Fails to Advance in Seville
(August 24) - Dominic Johnson, St. Lucia's sole representative to the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Seville, Spain, competed Tuesday evening in the preliminaries of the pole vault competition. Dominic jumped well, finishing in the top fifteen out of more than thirty vaulters, but he failed to qualify for the finals on Thursday.
Dominic's best all-time jump was a national record 5.65m, and this year he cleared 5.61m at the Caribbean and Central American Games in Bridgetown, Barbados. In his most recent competition - the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada - Dominic failed to clear a height. An American pole-vaulter cleared 5.60m to win in Canada. In Seville, the starting height was 5.40m, which Dominic cleared easily. Along with American record-holder Jeff Hartwig and nine other competitors, Dominic cleared 5.55m to stay alive. When the bar was raised to 5.65m, Dominic and Hartwig were among those eliminated. The 24 year old St. Lucian was understandably disappointed; he's looking forward to coming home in September for a well-deserved rest.
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